Most days, the political situation here (by which I mean Israel's pariah-like status in the Middle East) doesn't really enter my thinking. Whether that's because it's become so rote as to be ignorable or because it's more smoke-and-mirrors on the part of politicians (::coughthelattercough::) I don't know, but that's what it is. Every once in awhile, though, something happens that makes me a bit nervous. Today was one of those days.
For my new job, I have to have CPR certification. This is fine, but it also is something I thought I'd have to do once I got back to the US, meaning I'd have to factor that into my return date. Then I got this idea, though: maybe the CPR courses are offered internationally and I could get this certification out of the way while I was still in Israel in not have to worry about it upon my return.
So I scoured the webpage, found the international section, and checked. Except I couldn't, because there wasn't a listing for international sites. There was a form to register as an international site, to apply to be an international instructor, to order the materials in various languages, but not a listing of foreign training sites.
Fine. Next step, ask someone. This has been a new skill I've learned since moving to Israel. In the States, I'm fiercely independent. I will do it myself out of principle, even if asking someone would make it both quicker and easier. In Israel, though, between the language barrier and the culture barrier, that's not really an option. I'm constantly asking Simon to do things for me, or read something, or translate something. Same in government offices: "can you just explain this to me verbally, quickly?" and then hope I understand what they tell me.
With my relatively-new skill in hand, I began hunting around for a contact person. Quickly enough, I found the listing for the directors of the various territories: South America (plus Spain and Portugal), Europe & Africa, Asia, and the Middle East & Northern Africa. The contact person for the Middle East/Northern Africa territory: a woman in the UAE.
Now, if there's one thing I've learned while living in Israel, it's that politics and public opinion can be miles apart. Middle Eastern politics is the epitome of political theatre, and so it can be very hard to judge how my presence in Israel is going to be taken by people who live or are from other Middle Eastern countries. The media isn't always neutral, and heaven knows what's written in Arabic about Israel. I know that the Israeli press is sometimes very selective in what it translates into Hebrew from English (or from Hebrew to English, for global consumption of Israeli news) about a wide variety of topics. And I know that the UAE and Israel haven't had the greatest relationship, politics aside.
But she was the Middle East contact person, and Israel is in the Middle East, and I need a CPR certification, and it's just an email, for heaven's sake. What do I have to lose?
I got a reply within 15 minutes with a link to the site with the Israeli CPR certification centers, her phone number if I needed more info, and the contact info for the local Israeli CPR person. And the contact info for the Europe/Africa territory coordinator, because apparently Israel falls under his jurisdiction and not hers.
It's hard, sometimes, to see countries reduced to their politics when talked about in the news. It's not fair to the people that live there for others to assume their politicians speak for them on an individual basis. I don't know what this woman's opinion on Israel is but it didn't prevent her from helping me out, the politics of either of our countries notwithstanding. It's a good reminder, sometimes, that these countries we read so much about are, in fact, lots of individual people.
I mean, I'm not reading any kind of greater political message into anything; it was just an email, for heaven's sake. But it was an email that showed that people can get along just fine, even if countries can't.
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